Ryan stared into the distance, tearing apart a dried orange leaf he picked up from the ground.
“The wolf didn’t hurt me. After he left, I lied in bed paralyzed and dizzy. Something else happened last night. I had a vision from my past life…Zaria’s life. I saw what the Ulric’s did to Adam and I think I now know why he’s after them.”
“What did you see?” He asked.
“They killed him while Zaria watched from behind a tree. Out of desperation and heartbreak Zaria took her own life by jumping off a cliff. The same cliff from my dreams.”
“I know I promised you I wasn’t going to overreact, but Emi stepped over the line last night with what she did to you.” He said as he stood in front of me. “I hope that now you realize how dangerous the Ulric’s really are.”
I stayed quiet. I now believed Emi was dangerous. It was apparent she wanted me dead, but what about Lyle, did he feel the same? He said he loved me. He told me I could trust him. And he saved my life last night. I kept that part of the story from Ryan because I knew that if he found out Lyle was the wolf and that I smelled blood on him he would do something stupid.
His phone rang.
“Hold on a sec,” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Hello? What?” Yeah, we’re at Centennial Park. Ok, we’ll wait here.”
His face dropped.
“Who was that?” I asked, as soon as he ended the call.
“My uncle Charles,” he replied heading toward the parking lot, “he said Kima’s missing.”
“Oh my god, what happened?”
“I’m not sure. He said he’s on his way over here to talk to us.”
∞ chapter 19 ∞
WE WAITED in the parking lot for his uncle to arrive, when a police cruiser drove in. Denise, Tyler and a tall muscular man dressed in a police uniform stepped out of the car.
“Lia, this is my uncle Charles.” Ryan introduced.
“It’s nice to meet you.” He said as he extended his arm to shake my hand. He was younger then I’d expected. I could see the resemblance between the two of them as they stood beside each other. They both had the same physic, height and skin tone. Charles had small brown eyes and a nose that only a man could pull off.
“Kima’s gone. I think something’s happened to her. I could feel it,” Denise cried out.
“What happened?” Ryan desperately asked his uncle.
“Her neighbor said she saw her leaving her house around nine last night. She asked Kima where she was going and she told her she was going to see a friend. This morning when the neighbor went to ask her if she wanted to join them for breakfast, there was no answer and Kima was nowhere to be found.”
“Who did she go see?” Ryan asked.
“She said she was going to see Lia.” Tyler answered.
The three of them looked at me. What? She didn’t mention anything about coming to see me when we spoke at school yesterday. Why would she tell her neighbor she was going to see me?
“Did you see Kima last night?” Charles asked.
“No sir. And if she did come to see me I wasn’t home. I was at a funeral last night.”
“Are you sure?” Charles asked. I could see the doubt in his eyes because funerals are usually held during the day time.
“Yes, sir I’m sure. I didn’t see her.” I said defensively.
“It’s true, uncle. She was at Ramira Lupe’s funeral last night,” Ryan said, coming to my defense.
“We have to find her.” Denise said, tears rolling down her cheek.
“I’m heading back to the Rez to form a search party and check the areas she frequented. In the mean time, you guys can gather your friends and meet me here in an hour.”
“Yes sir,” replied Ryan. “Tyler, Denise why don’t you guys head to Rez and get the rest of the gang and ask around if anyone has seen her.” Ryan tossed the keys to Tyler, “Take my truck. Lia and I are going to search the Ulric’s ranch.”
“Ok. Keep your phone close so we can keep in touch.” Tyler replied as he and Denise headed toward the truck.
Ryan sped out the parking lot, pushing my car to its limit. When we arrived at the ranch, John was cutting lumber from logs. He didn’t hear us approach through the sound of the chainsaw. He stopped cutting when we stood in front of him.
“What’s going on? Who’s this?’ he asked looking at Ryan.
“This is my friend Ryan Woodruff.”
John lifted his hat, and extended his arm to meet Ryan’s.
“What you kids up to?” John asked, as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.
“Did someone named Kima come looking for me last night?” I asked.
“No.” John rolled a log up the ramp up to the saw mill.
“She told a neighbor she was coming to see me, but I wasn’t home last night. And now she’s missing.”
John paused. I could tell by the look on his face that he thought back to the night Veena went missing.
“Missing?” said John.
“Yeah, everyone at the Rez is looking for her.”
“We should search the woods.” Ryan suggested.
“Hold on a second,” John walked to his truck and pulled out a shot gun from the back seat. “Take this with you. God only knows what animals might be lurking in there.” He handed the gun to Ryan.
“Thank you, sir,” he said.
John nodded, “you kids be careful. I would help, but I have to get these damn lumber cut.”
“It’s ok sir, we understand. And rest assure we’ll be careful,” Ryan replied.
Ryan and I headed back to the car. “I’m going to call my uncle and ask him to meet us near the Louis Lake campground. I have a gut feeling that we should begin our search there.”
“Ok.” I replied nervously biting my lower lip.
An hour later, Deputy Woodruff and a large group of people arrived at the campground. Some of the volunteers were on horseback, ATV’s and the others on foot. There must’ve been about fifty people in all. I overheard Deputy Woodruff tell Ryan that the police went to the Ulric’s residence earlier and spoke to Emi. She cooperated with them and allowed them to search her home and property, but there were no sign of Kima anywhere.
I tried calling Lyle again, but he didn’t answer his phone.
“Lyle, it’s me Lia. Please call me when you get this message,” I whispered into his voicemail.
The volunteers were divided into groups, except for Ryan and me. He insisted we search together.
“Be careful, and make sure to call if you find anything.” Deputy Woodruff told Ryan.
“Yes sir.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me beside him as we headed inside. He handed me a long branch he picked up from the ground, to help push through the heavy bushes and branches that reached toward us.
“Why don’t we stick to the path?” I asked, dodging a slap from a branch.
“Be careful and try and stay close,” he said reaching for my hand.
“Do you suppose something happened to her?”
“Nothing better had happened to her,” his voice was angry, “if someone did anything to hurt her in any way, then there will be hell to pay.”
I wanted to tell him she would be found and that she would be fine, but I couldn’t. This morning I awoke with a feeling that today something terrible was going to happen. I was afraid of what we were going to find in the woods.
My stomach turned into knots as we neared the Shoshone Lake. The sky peeked through the tall aspen trees as small drops of rain broke from the dark grey clouds above. The wind picked up as the rain began to change from a soft drizzle to a full blown storm. I stumbled as I tried to keep pace with Ryan through the blinding rain.
“Come here,” he said as he pulled me close to him and wrapped me inside his jacket. I buried my face against his chest and tried to keep dry from the rain.
“Much better?” he asked. Water rolled down the tip of his nose unto the top of my head.
&
nbsp; “Uh huh,” I replied wrapping my arms around him.
He looked at me with a half smile on his face. I could see the worry built up in his eyes. We stayed silent for awhile, trying to keep dry and ride out the slow moving storm.
“Kima called me last night,” he said.
“She did?”
“Yeah…she told me she loved me. She said she always did. I guess I kinda knew it.”
“And what did you tell her?”
He took a deep breath, “I told her I wasn’t sure if I felt the same. Which was very stupid of me to say, because I do have feelings for her? I thought I didn’t, but when my uncle told me that she went missing, it’s as if a knife was thrown into my heart,” his voice cracked. “I don’t know what I would do if she’s gone. I guess I left the man in me take over and I allowed my feeling for you blind me from the one I truly loved. And now she might be gone.”
“Don’t say that. Kima isn’t gone. She’s going to be found and when she is, I know she will be ok and you can tell her how you truly feel. Don’t blame yourself for not being open to her. She loves you and I’m sure she will forgive you.” And in an instant, the rain subsided. “You’re ready to keep going?” I asked.
“Yeah, let’s head that way.” He replied pointing to a heavily wooded area on our left.
I followed as close as I could, pushing through the wet branches, tall grass, and trying to keep from falling on the muddy ground when suddenly Ryan stopped. He took a deep whiff of air and flared his nostrils as he exhaled. Quickly his eyes changed from brown to black.
“What is it?” I earnestly asked.
“Can’t you smell it?” He whispered, taking another deep breath.
I sniffed the air.
I did smell it.
I turned my head to the right and followed the coppery, bitter smell of blood. My head became heavy, my vision foggy, as I fell unto a trunk of a tree for support.
Ryan flew to Kima’s side. Her throat was slashed. Her legs looked to be broken because they were twisted in a position that made my legs weak, just by looking at them.
“Rya---.” She began to speak. It was a miracle she was still alive.
“My God! Kima I’m right here. You’re going to be ok,” he said as he kneeled beside her, struggling for the phone in his back pocket.
I froze. I wanted to go to her side but my body wouldn’t let me.
“We found her!” Ryan yelled into his phone. “Hurry! I don’t know how long she’s going to make it. We’re north-west 200 yards from the Shoshone Lake, near the Popo Agie woods. She’s alive, but badly hurt. Please hurry!”
Kima slowly, raised her hand and dropped something black on Ryan’s knee. It looked like fur.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get who’s responsible for this,” he said brushing blood drenched hair off her forehead. He leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead, “Oh Kima, don’t die, my love. Be strong.”
She turned to look at me and then she closed her eyes.
My legs gave up on me and my breathing was beginning to turn on me also as I dropped to the ground.
“I think I know who did this.”
“What? Who?” Ryan asked as he turned to look at me. His eyes were dark and unfamiliar. His lips were pinched.
“Yesterday, at school I had a vision. I saw a black bird, a wolf and a pool of blood. I didn’t tell you about it, because I didn’t know what it meant.” I cried out.
“Who did this?” He yelled out, squeezing the patch of black fur in his hands.
“The wolf that attacked Emi in my room last night, had the scent of blood on his muzzle and a patch of fur was missing from his shoulder,” I sat up slowly, “that wolf was Lyle.”
“That son of a Bitch! I’m going to make him pay for what he did to you,” he told Kima as he held her in his arms.
Deputy Woodruff and a team of EMT’s made their way to us. Ryan and I watched as they carried Kima on a gurney and quickly rushed her into the medical helicopter.
“Thank God you guys found her,” Deputy Woodruff said. “We almost called off the search due to the rain.”
“Is she going to be ok?” Ryan asked.
“I’m not sure, son.” He replied, placing his arm around his shoulders.
“Where are they taking her?” Ryan asked staring at the helicopter.
“Lander Regional,” he replied.
“I’ll meet you there,” he said quickly making his way toward the car. I followed close behind.
I don’t know how we did it, but we arrived at the hospital before the helicopter did. Our clothes still wet and sticking to our bodies, Ryan and I waited near the emergency room entrance. The doctors rushed to the room as the EMT’s pushed through the swinging doors with Kima, barely clinging to life. We overheard one of the nurses inform a Doctor that she had lost too much blood and was comatose.
After a few hours of not knowing if she was going to make it or not, we were allowed to see her in the Intensive Care Unit. Her head was wrapped in bandages and her legs were in casts. My heart sank to my stomach seeing what Lyle did to her. And for what? What did she ever do to him?
Knock. Knock.
“Come in.” I said in a low voice.
Ani, Tyler, and Denise made their way into the room. Denise flew to her side, with her face full of tears.
“How is she?” Ani asked.
“She’s in a coma,” Ryan replied, gently placing his hands on Kima’s frail hand. He never took his eyes off of her. He tried to look strong, but I could tell he was worried she was going to die.
“Poor thing,” Denise replied, as she ran her hand on Kima’s bandaged head.
Ani reached for Kima’s other hand. She held it gently and closed her eyes. While in a trance, she began to shake. When she let go her legs crumbled and she slammed into the floor. Tyler and Ryan both lifted her and sat her on the chair beside the bed.
Ryan asked. “What did you see?”
She rubbed her neck and opened her eyes wide---so wide that they were white, “she was attacked by the Lobison.”
Ryan pounded a fist through the wall, making the plaster crumble into dust. A nurse opened the door to see what the noise was but one look into Ryan’s flickering eyes, scared the hell out of her. She quickly shut the door behind her without asking what happened. I placed my hand on his shoulder to try and calm him but he shrugged it off. He looked past me, shook his head and began to pace the room.
“Kima?” Ani asked.
Our eyes flew on Kima when her bloodshot eyes flew open. “Pro-tect her, ” she struggled to say.
She pointed at me. Then her hand dropped and her eyes tracked back and forth behind closed lids once again.
“Kima!” Ryan cried out. His mouth at her ear, he whispered, “Come back. We need you. I need you, please come back.” But she remained stiff and lifeless.
A woman wearing white rumpled scrubs came into the room holding a clipboard. Tyler quickly stood in front of the hole Ryan made on the wall to keep her from noticing it.
“I’m looking for a Ryan Woodruff and Angelia Lafosse.”
“I’m Ryan.”
“And I’m Angelia.”
The doctor was absorbed in her chart again, “so the two of you were the ones who found Miss West is that correct?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ryan replied.
The doctor pulled out a pen from her coat pocket and wrote into the chart, “And she was found unconscious at the scene?”
“Yes.” We both replied at the same time.
The doctor nodded her head in agreement, “are you her mother?” She asked Ani.
“No. Her parents are out of town,” she replied. “They’ve already been notified and should arrive first thing in the morning.”
The doctor clicked her pen and wrote the information down.
“Very well then, we’ve stabilized her condition. The next forty-eight hours are going to be crucial for her recovery.” She placed the pen in her coat pocket again and walked to the door, �
��even if we can keep her alive, the swelling to her brain can cause significant damage. All we can do at this moment is hope for the best.”
Silence filled the room after the doctor stepped out. We stood frozen, staring at each other and then at Kima. Denise began to sob on her mother’s shoulder.
Footsteps approached behind the door, followed by a soft knock. It was the same nurse who walked in after Ryan punched the wall.
“Visiting time is over. You’re welcome to come again in the morning.”
One by one, we walked over to Kima and gently placed our hand on hers.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” I said and gave her a kiss on her head.
“If you can hear me, I want you to know that I’m sorry for the way I’ve treated you the past couple of months. I love you and need you here with me,” Ryan whispered to Kima after the others had left the room. Ryan breathed in deeply and fought back tears. His hand rolled into fists, “Lyle is going to pay for what he did to you. I promise you that.”
We joined the others out in the hall.
“Go and tell your uncle what’s happened,” Ani said to Ryan. “The elders will know what to do.”
∞CHAPTER 20 ∞
THERE WAS a crowd of men gathered outside the Tribal Center by the time we arrived.
“Who are all these people?” I asked as we pulled in.
“They’re shifters,” he replied as he pulled up beside the parked patrol car. “Some are relatives and others are from nearby tribes.”
Two out of the eight men that stood outside the glass doors, were extremely tall, one was wider than the other was. They seemed like ordinary people to me.
“How is she?” One of the men asked Ryan.
“Not good,” Ryan replied. His lips were pressed together as he greeted the men who had come seeking revenge against Lyle for what he had done to Kima.
Deputy Woodruff turned to look at me. “Wait for us out here, only the tribal members are allowed to attend the meeting.”
I wanted to go inside and be a part of the meeting. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for what happened to Kima. I felt that the attack was somehow my fault. I didn’t think it was fair that I had to wait outside.
The Rising Moon Page 10